Holly Greenwood
Artist Profile
Biography
Australian pub culture continues to be a source of fascination for Holly Greenwood. For the artist, this is a timely subject in a world where human connection has been eroded by the pandemic and where our reliance on technology has exacerbated a sense of isolation from each other. A pub provides a space to connect with strangers. In a pub you can let your guard down and conversations can reveal innermost thoughts – where even deeply held secrets can waft to the surface, from climate skepticism to long held political views. And then there is the country pub, where solitary drinkers can still feel a sense of community and can quench their loneliness with a beer.
Behind each work there is a story to tell. Stories overheard in the various pubs that are Greenwood’s subject matter are hinted at in the titles of her works. These stories and others like it, divulged at the pub in bids for connection and community, form the woven fabric of society and Greenwood consciously attempts to honor these memories through slippery paint.
Holly Greenwood is a Sydney-based artist, whose work is steeped in a uniquely Australian sense of place. Since graduating from COFA in 2011, Greenwood has exhibited extensively within Australia, gaining increasing attention as a contemporary Australian artist. In 2022 she was named a finalist in the prestigious Sir John Sulman Prize and in 2021 she was named a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Prize. In 2019 was awarded the Hill End Residency in addition to a finalist position in the highly competitive Brett Whitely traveling art scholarship in 2018 and 2017. In 2022 she presented a major exhibition at Broken Hill City Gallery, Petricor, with artists Ondine Seabrook and Bronte Leighton-Dore.
Australian pub culture continues to be a source of fascination for Holly Greenwood. For the artist, this is a timely subject in a world where human connection has been eroded by the pandemic and where our reliance on technology has exacerbated a sense of isolation from each other. A pub provides a space to connect with strangers. In a pub you can let your guard down and conversations can reveal innermost thoughts – where even deeply held secrets can waft to the surface, from climate skepticism to long held political views. And then there is the country pub, where solitary drinkers can still feel a sense of community and can quench their loneliness with a beer.
Behind each work there is a story to tell. Stories overheard in the various pubs that are Greenwood’s subject matter are hinted at in the titles of her works. These stories and others like it, divulged at the pub in bids for connection and community, form the woven fabric of society and Greenwood consciously attempts to honor these memories through slippery paint.
Holly Greenwood is a Sydney-based artist, whose work is steeped in a uniquely Australian sense of place. Since graduating from COFA in 2011, Greenwood has exhibited extensively within Australia, gaining increasing attention as a contemporary Australian artist. In 2022 she was named a finalist in the prestigious Sir John Sulman Prize and in 2021 she was named a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Prize. In 2019 was awarded the Hill End Residency in addition to a finalist position in the highly competitive Brett Whitely traveling art scholarship in 2018 and 2017. In 2022 she presented a major exhibition at Broken Hill City Gallery, Petricor, with artists Ondine Seabrook and Bronte Leighton-Dore.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Slippery Talk, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2022 I was born here, I’ll die here, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2021 Last Drinks, Olsen Galery, Sydney, NSW
2021 Paintings from the Front Bar, James Makin Gallery, VIC
2020 Desert Shadows, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2019 The Time Between, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2019 “Wake in Fright” James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2018 “The Wind down” James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2018 “If these carpets could talk” Saint Cloche gallery, Sydney, NSW
2017 “Bush to pub” Saint Cloche gallery, Sydney, NSW
2017 “Faded land” Saint Cloche gallery, Sydney, NSW
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2022 Sir John Sulman Prise, Art Gallery of NSW, NSW
2022 Sydney Contemporary, James Makin Gallery, Carriageworks, Sydney, NSW
2022 Petrichor, Broken Hill City Gallery, NSW
2021 Art of Music, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW
2021 Contemporary Landscape Perspectives: A Group Show, Wangaratta Art
Gallery, Wangaratta, NSW
2020 Here I am: Art by Great Women Festival, Ambush Gallery in cultural
partnership with Kambri at ANU, Canberra, ACT
2020 Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2019 “Altered Visions” China Heights Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2018 “Sweetness of the new” Yellow House gallery, Sydney, NSW
2018 A Painted Landscape, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2018 On the Aussie Tellie, Ambush Gallery, Sydney
2018 The Art of Music, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW
2018 Tales of Talent, Galerie Wolfsen, Aalborg, Denmark
2016 “Synchronicity” Clifton School of Arts, Clifton, NSW
2016 “All in one space” Tiny Tailor gallery, Sydney, NSW
2016 “From a distant land” Ambush gallery, Sydney, NSW
2016 “Bush towns” Sheffer gallery, Sydney, NSW
2015 “The ladies network” Ambush gallery, Sydney, NSW
AWARDS/GRANTS/PRIZES
2022 Finalist, Sir John Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, NSW
2021 Finalist, Portia Geach Memorial Prize
2019 Hill End Residency, Hill End, NSW
2018 Finalist, Brett Whitely travelling art scholarship, Sydney, NSW
2017 Finalist, Brett Whiteley travelling art scholarship, Sydney, NSW
